2023 Helbig 1915 Shiraz

Only 699 bottles produced

A single vineyard selection of truly remarkable Shiraz that was planted by the Helbig family in 1915. This vineyard is located on the western ridge of the famous Barossa Valley and has been a highly sought after parcel for many of the Barossa’s leading winemakers. Luckily for the Ashmead family, we were able to acquire this vineyard in 2010, forever ending the race to get this amazing fruit.

The spring ahead of the 2023 season presented with enough rain to make us happy - we even enjoyed getting some runoff into the vineyard dams! This mild start to the season resulted in a delay in budburst and subsequent longer ripening period owing to the very mild temperatures without heat spikes, aside from a short burst of heat around late December/early January.

With such tiny volumes of Helbig Shiraz, we fermented in puncheons with heads removed. After destemming, the fruit underwent a cold soak and then gentle plunging was used for cap management during fermentation. We held the new dry wine on skins for a short time to help develop the tannin structure, to ensure the fruit and tannin balance was right.

Post pressing, this wine was kept on lees in new French oak until post malolactic fermentation, and then given a further year to relax and mature before bottling.

- Jules Ashmead & Brock Harrison

Alcohol: 14.8

Aroma: Brooding red fruits with spicy oak overtones

Appearance: Dark purple

Taste: A delicious whack of plums and spiced red berries. Notes of dark chocolate on the back palate, with silken long tannins to underpin the power of fruit on the finish.

Mouthfeel: Pure, focused

Ageing Process: Post pressing, this wine was kept on lees in new French oak until post malolactic fermentation, and then given a further year to relax and mature before bottling.

15+ years from vintage, given good cellaring conditions